



1?/^ 



J A NO 



Reminiscences of Captain James 
B. Eads of Jetties Fame. 



O 



By 

Edmond 3ouchon, M. D. 
New Orleans, La. 



o 



Read before the 

Louisiana Historical Sociefy 

May 19. 1915 



Reminiscences of Captain James 
B. Eads of Jetties Fame 






By 

Edmond Souchon, M. D. 

New Orleans, La. 






Read before the 
Louisiana Historical Society 
May 19. 1915 



V<> . A. 



xV^'^5^ 

^ <<.^ 



m EXCHANGE 



REMINISCENCES OF CAPTAIN JAMES B. 
EADS OF JETTIES FAME. 



By Edmond Souchon, M. D., New Orleans, La. 



(Read before the Louisiana Historical Society, 
May 19, 1915.) 



In the spring of 1876 my health was very 
much impaired from a blood infection following 
a surgical operation. The moral effect of the 
occurrence was most depressing also, taking it 
very hard to be thus afflicted myself in endeavor- 
ing to relieve a sufferer. 

All treatment had had no very great effect and 
my doctor friends strongly urged me to go North, 
to the mountains, to the seashore. I did so, but 
it did not have the desired effect and, very much 
cast down, I took the steamer in August, in New 
York, to return home. It was the dear old ''New 
Orleans,'* slow but sure and steady and most 
comfortable. 

I selected on the rear deck the least frequented 
spot, and sat there all day, discouraged, reading, 
thinking, brooding, despondent and misanthropi- 
cal. All went well for the first day. On the 
morning of the second day a smart looking bru- 
nette American girl of about twenty-three came 
up on deck and took her seat some little distance 



4 Reminiscences of 

from me. But after twelve o'clock, an elderly 
gentleman came up and sat beside her. They be- 
gan talking in a low voice and giggled and 
laughed; then he read to her from a book. She 
seemed to enjoy it very much and he had evi- 
dently made an impression on her, as she was 
very deferential to him and would often laugh 
a bright merry laugh that displayed her pearl-like 
teeth and cherry lips and made her black eyes 
sparkle. I was provoked to see such an old man 
pressing his suit, so it seemed to me, on such a 
fine girl and apparently with some pretty chance 
of success. It all caused me great annoyance, first 
because of their presence so near interfering with 
my gloomy reflections and then, specially, because 
they spoke loud enough to disturb me and for me 
to catch some words now and then, but not so as 
to enable me to follow^ their conversation and en- 
joy it with them if I could. This went on for two 
days, much to my discomfort and chagrin, when 
on the morning of the fourth day the young lady 
was again alone, the elderly beau not putting in 
an appearance. Nor did the old Don Juan come 
up after dinner to keep company to the solitary 
beauty. We were alone again when the chief 
steward came up to me and said that Captain 
Eads was sick in his cabin and asked me to be 
kind enough to come down and see him. I was 
much annoyed in my present frame of mind to 
have to go near a sick one and prescribe for him. 
I told the steward I did not know Captain Eads 
and how did he come to send for me and that I 
had no medicines with me. The steward politely 
replied that Captain Eads had read my name on 



Captain James B. Eads. 5 

the passenger list and that there was a medicine 
chest on board. I realized that I could not decent- 
ly keep out of it and I reluctantly went down. 

On entering the cabin and casting my eye on the 
narrow couch, I recognized at once the old flirt, 
and a slight thrill of joy went through me at the 
idea that I would keep him down in his cabin for 
the remainder of the trip and be rid of his silly 
giggling and talk on deck. 

He was a man of about sixty, rather below the 
average size, sparely built, bald with gray hair 
around his head, wearing a full thin gray beard 
but with a shaven upper lip. His eyes were gray 
also, small, deep set and piercing when he fixed 
you. He related his trouble to me in a gentle, 
soft voice, well poised and firm. I used out of 
the medicine chest what medicines could relieve 
him. We then went on conversing together. I 
was struck by the fluency of his speech, by the 
variety and extent of his knowledge, by the clear- 
ness with which he expressed himself. I was 
gradually and insensibly won over and felt all 
my resentment vanish. I remained with him at 
least an hour and was sorry to leave him. 

Returning on deck I asked the steward who 
Captain Eads was ; that I did not think I had ever 
heard of him before and he said nothing in his 
conversation that would give me an inkling as 
to who he was and where he was going. The 
steward told me that Captain Eads was the 
famous builder of the great St. Louis bridge and 
the promoter of the jetties at South Pass; that 
he was on his way there now to inspect the prog- 
ress of the work. It then struck me that I had 



6 Reminiscences of 

in fact heard of the bridge and of the jetties, but 
the name of Eads had escaped my mind, and the 
little, modest, unassuming man I had just left 
grew up in my mind to the proportions of a giant, 
which he truly was, intellectually. My solicitude 
for him and his ease increased in proportion. His 
ailment was not of a serious nature and he was 
soon well enough to come up on deck. There he 
reclined on a cot and we all gathered around him. 
He introduced me to his ''crowd'' and I had a 
really pleasant time with them, the first beam of 
cheerfulness that I had met in a long time. The 
young lady was Miss X., the daughter of one of 
the big contractors of the work. 

On the last day of the trip, when we came in 
view of the jetties, the pilot came on board. Cap- 
tain Eads at once went to meet him and in his 
quiet, sweet way asked him some questions about 
the jetties. The pilot answered him gruffly. The 
man was a short, uncouth, rough sort of a fellow, 
evidently one of those who was opposed to the 
jetties. Eads cast piercing glances at him, but 
took it all in and continued talking to him in his 
soft, winning, mild voice. I was indignant to 
see the rudeness of that pigmy to the great man 
who was addressing him. Eads was eager to 
know what had been going on at the Pass and 
gradually his gentleness and firmness finally con- 
quered the boor and it appeared to me that Eads 
had learned what he wanted to know. 

, Very shortly afterwards we were in plain view 
of the Pass and Captain Eads came to me and said 
that he was getting off here and before leaving 
me he wanted to know what was his indebtedness 



Captain James B. Eads, 7 

to me for my services. I replied that I was travel- 
ing for my health and pleasure and not to practice 
medicine, and that I would not charge him any 
fee. Besides, I added, I felt too much honored to 
have attended such a man as he to care for a few 
dollars. He burst out laughing and called Miss X. 
to come. Then turning to me he said, **I have lost 
a box of gloves on you. I had bet with Miss X. 
that you would charge me for your services, and 
she bet that you would not." ''Well, Captain,'' 
said I, ''she knows Southern men better than you 
do/^ 



UBBAmOFCOJIGRg^ 



028 151 752 1 



